New 911 center has no benefit

This is response to Rebecca White’s article (“Pushback over hire of new 911 director,” Aug. 30, 2018) on hiring a new 911 director. I am one of the people quoted in the article. I would like to add a few things about consolidating emergency dispatch in Spokane County.

1: This will cost the taxpayers/citizens of Spokane County more money. Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer stated this would not save money. Steve Reinke (the new director) told the board of directors that this will cost more money than they originally thought.

2: The levels of service we dispatchers provide to officers/deputies/firefighters will change. The new private agency will want to have no liability in the service we provide to first responders or the taxpaying citizens. The level of service I provide to my officers will definitely change for the worse.

3: We have asked what is broken about this system and have receive no answers. Why? What is broken about how we dispatch? Nothing.

4: Taxpayers approved Proposition 1 for a new radio system, new CAD, Crime Check, backup center, alert Spokane … They did not approve this for combining agencies.

Where is the benefit to the taxpaying citizens? The dispatchers? The first responders? The citizens?

Kyle Steinmetz

Spokane Valley